CN111092637A

CN111092637A - Method for operating terminal in wireless communication system and terminal

Info

Publication number: CN111092637A
Application number: CN201910762324.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金基荣; 李炅桓
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-24
Filing date: 2019-08-16
Publication date: 2020-05-01
Also published as: US20200137739A1; US11240810B2; KR20200046483A

Abstract

A method for operating a terminal is provided. The method comprises the following steps: selecting a first pattern as a pattern of receive beams; searching for a cell in the wireless communication system using a reception beam of the first pattern; determining a first candidate set comprising at least one candidate for a beam pattern pair having a first pattern of receive beams, wherein each of the at least one candidate corresponds to a transmit beam pattern of a cell; determining whether to decode a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCK) received from a first candidate in a first candidate set; decoding a PBCH based on the determination; and selecting one of the beam pattern pairs for the first pattern with receive beams from the first candidate group based on the decoding.

Description

Method for operating terminal in wireless communication system and terminal

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application claims priority from korean patent application No.10-2018-0127692, filed by the korean intellectual property office at 24.10.2018, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to determining transmit and receive beam pattern (pattern) pairs in a wireless communication system.

Background

Compared to the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-advanced (LTE-a), the 5G communication system is intended to provide an ultra high speed data service of several gigabits per second (Gbps) using an ultra wide band having a bandwidth of 100 megahertz (MHz) or more as a new radio access technology. However, since it is difficult to secure ultra-wideband frequencies of 100MHz or more (such as those used in LTE and LTE-a) in a frequency band of several hundreds of MHz or several gigahertz (GHz), a method of transmitting a signal using a wide frequency band of 6GHz or more is required in a 5G communication system. In more detail, in the 5G communication system, a millimeter wave frequency band such as a 28GHz band or a 60GHz band is used to increase a transmission rate. However, since the frequency band and the path loss of the radio wave are proportional, the path loss of the radio wave is large due to the very high frequency wave. Thus, the service area is reduced.

To overcome such a disadvantage of service area reduction in the 5G communication system, a beamforming technique may be used to increase the reaching distance of radio waves by generating a directional beam using a plurality of antennas. Beamforming techniques may be applied to a transmitting device (e.g., a base station) and a receiving device (e.g., a terminal), respectively. In addition to the enlargement of the service area, the beamforming technique may also reduce interference due to beam focusing in a target direction (focus).

In the 5G communication system, the direction of a transmission beam of a cell (or a transmission apparatus) and the direction of a reception beam of a terminal need to be aligned with each other to increase the effect of the beamforming technique. Accordingly, a technique of determining a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns for aligning a transmission beam and a reception beam has been studied.

Disclosure of Invention

One or more example embodiments provide a terminal capable of efficiently and quickly determining a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns for aligning a transmission beam of a cell and a reception beam of the terminal according to a communication environment of a 5G wireless communication system, and a method of operating the terminal.

According to an aspect of an example embodiment, there is provided a method of operating a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: selecting a first pattern as a pattern of receive beams; searching for a plurality of cells in the wireless communication system using the receive beams of the first pattern; determining, based on the searching, a first candidate group comprising at least one candidate for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams from transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells, wherein each of the at least one candidate corresponds to a transmit beam pattern of the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells; determining whether to decode a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) received from a first candidate in the first candidate set; decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for the transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams from the first candidate set based on the decoding.

According to an aspect of an example embodiment, there is provided a terminal configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: a plurality of antennas; and a baseband processor configured to: controlling the plurality of antennas such that a reception beam of the terminal has a pattern; controlling a beam scanning operation using the receive beam having the pattern; searching for a plurality of cells in the wireless communication system using the pattern of the reception beam as a first pattern of a first beam scanning operation; determining a first candidate group including at least one candidate from among the transmission beam patterns of the plurality of cells based on a result of the search, the at least one candidate being capable of selecting a transmission and reception beam pattern pair for the first pattern having the reception beam; determining whether to decode a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) received from a first candidate in the first candidate set; decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams from the first candidate set.

According to an aspect of the example embodiments, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor in a terminal determining transmit and receive beam pattern pairs, cause the terminal to: selecting a first pattern as a pattern of receive beams; searching for a plurality of cells using the receive beams of the first pattern; determining a first candidate set from the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells, the first candidate set comprising candidates for transmit and receive beam pattern pairs having a first pattern of the receive beams; determining whether to decode a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) received from a first candidate in the first candidate set; decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams based on the decoding.

Drawings

The above and other aspects, features and advantages will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system according to an example embodiment;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of a terminal according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of operating a terminal according to an example embodiment;

fig. 4A and 4B are views for explaining operation S120 in fig. 3 in detail;

fig. 5A and 5B are views for explaining operation S140 in fig. 3 in detail, according to example embodiments;

FIG. 5C is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of operation S142 in FIG. 5A;

fig. 6A and 6B are views for explaining operation S140 in fig. 3 in detail, according to example embodiments;

fig. 7 is a flowchart detailing operation S160 in fig. 3 according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a fast beam sweep control module according to an example embodiment;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of the operation of the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) decoding control module of fig. 8 according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of the operation of the reference adjustment module of FIG. 8 according to an example embodiment;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of the operation of the receive beam auto-tracking operation control module of fig. 8 according to an example embodiment;

fig. 12 is a block diagram of an electronic device for determining transmit and receive beam pattern pairs in accordance with an example embodiment; and

fig. 13 is an illustration of a communication device performing an operation for determining transmit and receive beam patterns according to an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

The base station communicates with the terminals and allocates communication network resources to the terminals. The base station may be at least one of a cell, a Base Station (BS), a nodeb (nb), an enodeb (enb), a next generation radio access network (NG RAN), a radio access unit, a base station controller, or a node on the network. Hereinafter, a base station is referred to as a cell.

A terminal (or communication terminal) communicates with a cell or another terminal and may be referred to as a node, User Equipment (UE), next generation UE, Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Equipment (ME), device, terminal, or the like.

Further, the terminal may include a smart phone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), a mobile phone, a video phone, an e-book reader, a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a portable multimedia player (PDP), an MP3 player, a medical device, a camera, and a wearable device. The terminal may further include a Television (TV), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player, an audio device, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, an oven, a microwave oven, a washing machine, an air purifier, a set-top box, a home automation control panel, a security control panel, a media box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync)^TM、Apple TV^TMOr Google TV^TM) Game machine (e.g., Xbox)^TM、PlayStation^TM) At least one of an electronic dictionary, an electronic key, a camcorder, or an electronic photo frame. The terminal may also include, for example, various medical devices (e.g., various portable medical measurement instruments (e.g., a blood glucose meter, a heart rate meter, a blood pressure meter, or a thermometer), Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), computed tomography scansAt least one of a scanner (CT), camera, or ultrasound device), a navigation device, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), an Event Data Recorder (EDR), a Flight Data Recorder (FDR), an automotive infotainment device, a marine electronic device (e.g., a marine navigation device, a gyrocompass, etc.), an avionic device, a security device, a head unit, an industrial or domestic robot, a drone, an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of a financial institution, a point of sale (POS) of a store, or an internet of things (IoT) device (e.g., a light bulb, various sensors, a spray device, a fire alarm, a thermostat, a street light, an oven, a fitness equipment, a hot water tank, a heater, a boiler), etc. In addition, the terminal may include various types of multimedia systems capable of performing communication functions.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system 1 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 1, a wireless communication system 1 may include a plurality of

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c and a terminal 100. For convenience of description, the wireless communication system 1 is shown in the drawings to include only three

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c, but the example embodiments are not limited thereto. The wireless communication system 1 may include various numbers of cells. The

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c may be connected to the terminal 100 through a radio channel to provide various communication services. The

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c may serve all user traffics through a shared channel and may be scheduled by collecting state information such as a buffer state, an available transmission power state, and a channel state of the terminal 100. The wireless communication system 1 may support: orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is used as a beamforming technique for radio access technologies. The wireless communication system 1 may also support: a modulation method and an Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) method for determining a channel coding rate according to a channel state of the terminal 100.

Further, the wireless communication system 1 can transmit and receive signals using a wide frequency band existing in a frequency band of 6GHz or more. For example, in the wireless communication system 1, the data transmission rate may be increased by using a millimeter wave frequency band such as a 28GHz band or a 60GHz band. Here, since the millimeter wave band has a large amount of signal attenuation with respect to the distance, the wireless communication system 1 can support transmission and reception based on a directional beam generated using a plurality of antennas to ensure coverage. The wireless communication system 1 according to the exemplary embodiment may perform a beam scanning operation for transmission/reception based on a directional beam.

The beam scanning operation is the following procedure: the terminal 100 and the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c sequentially or randomly scan a directional beam having a specific pattern and determine a transmission beam and a reception beam whose directions are aligned with each other. That is, the patterns of the transmission beam and the reception beam whose directions are aligned with each other may be determined as a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns. The beam pattern may be a shape of a beam determined by a width of the beam and a direction of the beam, and a beam scanning operation according to an example embodiment will be described below. For example, a first cell 10a may transmit transmission beams in a plurality of patterns TX _ BPGa, a second cell 10b may transmit transmission beams in a plurality of patterns TX _ BPGb, and a third cell 10c may transmit transmission beams in a plurality of patterns TX _ BPGc. In addition, the terminal 100 may generate reception beams in a plurality of patterns RX _ BPG.

Each of the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c transmits a transmission beam having a specific pattern at a first time point (which may be an arbitrary time point), and transmits a transmission beam having a pattern different from that of the transmission beam at the first time point at a second time point. Each of the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c may transmit a transmission beam in all directions for a certain period of time. For example, the first cell 10a may sequentially or randomly scan and transmit the first transmission beam having various patterns TX _ BPGa for a certain period of time, the second cell 10b may sequentially or randomly scan and transmit the second transmission beam having various patterns TX _ BPGb, and the third cell 10c may sequentially or randomly scan and transmit the third transmission beam having various patterns TX _ BPGc.

The terminal 100 may generate a reception beam having a specific pattern at a first time point (which may be an arbitrary time point) using a plurality of antennas and generate a reception beam having a pattern different from that of the reception beam at the first time point at a second time point. The terminal 100 may generate a reception beam in all directions for a certain period of time. For example, the terminal 100 may generate reception beams having various patterns RX _ BPG for a certain period of time by sequentially or randomly scanning the reception beams having the various patterns RX _ BPG.

The terminal 100 may search for an optimal transmission beam and reception beam, which provide the best reception quality, by matching a plurality of transmission beams with a plurality of reception beams through a beam scanning operation. The terminal 100 according to an example embodiment may select a pattern (which may be an arbitrary pattern) from a plurality of reception beam patterns RX _ BPG and perform a beam scanning operation by using a reception beam having the selected pattern. That is, the terminal 100 may perform a beam scanning operation in units of one reception beam pattern. Based on the result of the beam scanning operation, the terminal 100 may determine a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns by searching for a transmission beam pattern paired with a reception beam pattern, and may provide reception quality higher than a threshold level. For example, the terminal 100 may perform a beam scanning operation, and using the result of the beam scanning operation, the terminal 100 may find an nth reception beam pattern RX _ BPn from among the plurality of reception beam patterns RX _ BPG, and find a kth transmission beam pattern TX _ BPk from among the plurality of transmission beam patterns TX _ BPGa of the first cell 10a using the identified reception beam pattern RX _ BPn, and the nth reception beam pattern RX _ BPn and the kth transmission beam pattern TX _ BPk may provide reception quality higher than a threshold level.

In addition, the terminal 100 may group a plurality of reception beam patterns RX _ BPG into a plurality of groups and perform a beam scanning operation based on the groups. In more detail, the terminal 100 may search for the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c in the wireless communication system 1 using the reception beam having the selected pattern. For example, the selected pattern may include two or more receive beam patterns. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may determine a candidate group including at least one candidate, which is a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns that can be selected for having a reception beam pattern, from among the transmission beam patterns TX _ BGa to TX _ BGc based on the search result. For example, the candidates may correspond to arbitrary transmission beam patterns TX _ BPGa, TX _ BPGb, and TX _ BPGc of the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10 c. The terminal 100 may select one candidate from the candidate set and determine whether to decode a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) received through the selected candidate. For example, the selected candidate may be the kth transmission beam pattern TX _ BPk of the first cell 10a, and the PBCH received through the selected candidate may be the PBCH received from the first cell 10a through the transmission beam having the kth transmission beam pattern TX _ BPk. A portion of system information required for the terminal 100 to access the network may be transmitted through the PBCH, and the terminal 100 may decode the content of the PBCH to obtain the portion of the system information. The terminal 100 may select a pattern of the reception beam and a pattern of the transmission beam as a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns based on the result of the decoding.

When the terminal 100 cannot search the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c using the reception beam having the selected pattern or cannot determine a candidate group, the terminal 100 may perform a beam scanning operation by selecting a next pattern from the plurality of reception beam patterns RX _ BPG.

In this way, the terminal 100 according to an example embodiment may select one of the plurality of reception beam patterns RX _ BPG to perform a beam scanning operation without determining an ideal transmission beam pattern pair corresponding to the respective transmission beam patterns TX _ BPGa, TX _ BPGb, and TX _ BPGc of the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c while sequentially or randomly selecting all the reception beam patterns RX _ BPG. The terminal 100 may also determine the transmit and receive beam pattern pairs by finding a transmit beam pattern that satisfies certain criteria. Accordingly, the terminal 100 can more quickly determine the pair of transmission and reception beam patterns capable of providing the reception quality higher than the threshold level, thereby providing a communication service suitable for the communication environment of the wireless communication system 1 in which the communication environment can be rapidly changed.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a terminal 100 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 2, the terminal 100 may include a plurality of antennas 110, an RF integrated circuit 120, a baseband processing circuit 130, a baseband processor 140, and a memory 150. The terminal 100 of fig. 2 is an example only, and example embodiments are not limited thereto. The baseband processing circuit 130 may be included in the RF integrated circuit 120 or in the baseband processor 140. The terminal 100 receives transmission beams having various transmission beam patterns TX _ BPGa, TX _ BPGb, and TX _ BPGc from the

cells

10a, 10b, and 10c of fig. 1 to determine transmission and reception beam pattern pairs.

Antenna 110 may transmit signals received by RF integrated circuit 120 over a wireless channel and receive signals over a wireless channel. The antenna 110 may support beamforming and may be implemented as an array antenna, a patch antenna, or the like. The RF integrated circuit 120 may low-noise amplify an RF signal received from the antenna 110 and may perform frequency down-conversion on a baseband signal. The baseband processing circuit 130 may perform: a function of converting the baseband signal and the bit string according to a physical layer standard. For example, baseband processing circuitry 130 may demodulate and decode a baseband signal provided from RF integrated circuit 120 to recover a received bit string. The baseband processing circuit 130 may further include a signal measurement circuit 132, and the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of the baseband signal based on various measurement methods. However, this is merely an example, and example embodiments are not limited thereto. The signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of the RF signal before the RF signal is converted to a baseband signal. Here, the signal measurement circuit 132 may be included in the RF integrated circuit 120.

The baseband processor 140 may control operations regarding data communication with a cell of the terminal 100. According to an example embodiment, the baseband processor 140 may include: a fast beam sweep control module 142 for controlling the operation of determining the transmit and receive beam pattern pairs. The fast beam sweep control module 142 may select any one of a plurality of receive beam patterns and control the performance of the beam sweep operation by using the selected receive beam pattern. The fast beam scan control module 142 may control the antenna 110 to generate a reception beam having a selected reception beam pattern, and may receive a transmission beam having various transmission beam patterns from a cell through the generated reception beam. The fast beam scanning control module 142 may perform cell search with a beam scanning operation by using the intensity of the transmission beam measured by the signal measurement circuit 132 and determine a candidate group. Hereinafter, the operation of the fast beam scanning control module 142 will be described.

The fast beam sweep control module 142 may be implemented in hardware logic units in the baseband processor 140. In addition, the fast beam sweep control module 142 may be implemented as a plurality of command codes in software logic units stored in the memory 150 and executed by the baseband processor 140.

The memory 150 may store data such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the terminal 100, and may provide the stored data at the request of the baseband processor 140. The memory 150 may include, for example, an internal memory or an external memory. For example, the internal memory may include at least one of volatile memory (e.g., Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (sdram), etc.), non-volatile memory (e.g., one-time programmable read only memory (OTPROM), programmable ROM (prom), erasable programmable ROM (eprom), electrically erasable programmable ROM (eeprom), mask ROM, flash ROM, etc.), flash memory, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and a Solid State Drive (SSD). The external memory may include a flash drive (e.g., a high density flash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), micro SD, mini SD, extreme digital (xD), multi-media card (MMC), or memory stick). The external memory may be functionally or physically connected with the terminal 100 via various interfaces.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method of operating the terminal 100 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 3, the terminal 100 may scan a frequency band of a signal transmitted by a cell in a wireless communication system in operation S100. The terminal 100 may scan a frequency band, identify a frequency band used by a cell for signal transmission, and generate a reception beam having a frequency corresponding to the frequency band. In operation S110, the terminal 100 may generate a receive beam by selecting an mth receive beam pattern (which may be an arbitrary receive beam pattern) from among a plurality of receive beam patterns.

In operation S120, the terminal 100 may perform cell search using a reception beam having an mth reception beam pattern. That is, the terminal 100 may perform cell search by receiving transmission beams of various transmission beam patterns transmitted from the cell through the reception beam having the mth reception beam pattern. The cell search method will be described in detail with reference to fig. 4A and 4B.

In operation S130, the terminal 100 may determine a candidate group including at least one candidate capable of selecting a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns for the mth reception beam pattern from the transmission beam patterns of the found cell based on the cell search result.

In operation S140, the terminal 100 may determine whether to perform PBCH decoding by using the candidate group. A detailed description of operation S140 will be given with reference to fig. 5A and 5B.

In operation S150, when the terminal 100 determines decoding of the PBCH received from the cell (e.g., kth cell) corresponding to a specific candidate (e.g., kth cell) through the transmission beam having the transmission beam pattern as the specific candidate (e.g., the kth transmission beam pattern) in the candidate group (yes in operation S140), the terminal 100 may perform PBCH decoding. When the terminal 100 successfully performs PBCH decoding, the terminal 100 may determine the mth receive beam pattern and the kth transmit beam pattern as a pair of transmit and receive beam patterns.

In operation S160, the terminal 100 may generate a receive beam having an mth receive beam pattern and may perform a camp-on operation on a kth cell through a transmit beam having a kth transmit beam pattern. Through the camp-on operation, the terminal 100 can connect to a specific network supported by the kth cell and can receive a wireless communication service from the network.

When the terminal 100 determines not to perform decoding of the PBCH in operation S170 (no in S140), the terminal 100 counts up the value of m, and may select a different reception beam pattern in operation S110.

Fig. 4A and 4B are views for explaining operation S120 in fig. 3 in detail. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is assumed that three cells Cell a (10a), Cell B (10B), and Cell C (10C) perform Cell search under the condition of three transmission beam patterns TX _ BP _ a1, TX _ BP _ a2, TX _ BP _ A3, TX _ BP _ B1, TX _ BP _ B2, TX _ BP _ B3, TX _ BP _ C1, TX _ BP _ C2, and TX _ BP _ C3. Also, it should be understood that example embodiments are not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 4A, in operation S120', in a state in which the terminal 100 generates a reception beam having an mth reception beam pattern, the signal measurement circuit 132 of the terminal 100 may measure the correlation power between the synchronization signal Sync _ S received through the transmission beam having the transmission beam patterns of the plurality of cells Cell a, Cell B, and Cell C and the synchronization signal sequence Sync _ Seq respectively corresponding to the synchronization signal Sync _ S after operation S110. Various types of synchronization signal sequences Sync _ Seq may be stored in advance in the terminal 100, and the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the relevant power by matching the appropriate synchronization signal sequences Sync _ Seq with the synchronization signals Sync _ S received from the cells CellA, Cell B, and Cell C, respectively.

As shown in fig. 4B, the signal measurement circuit 132 may provide the result of measuring the correlation power to the fast beam sweep control module 142 as a Cell search result Cell _ DR. For example, referring to the Cell search result Cell _ DR, accordingly, the correlation power values of the synchronization signals received through the transmission beams having the first, second, and third transmission beam patterns TX _ BP _ a1, TX _ BP _ a2, and TX _ BP _ A3 from the first Cell a may be ' 10 ', ' 20 ', and ' 15 ', the correlation power values of the synchronization signals received through the transmission beams having the first, second, and third transmission beam patterns TX _ BP _ B1, TX _ BP _ B2, and TX _ BP _ B3 from the second Cell B may be ' 25 ', ' 16 ', and ' 21 ', and the correlation power values of the synchronization signals received through the transmission beams having the first, second, and third transmission beam patterns TX _ BP _ C2, TX _ BP _ C1, and TX _ BP _ C3 from the third Cell C may be ' 5 '10' and '12'. However, example embodiments are not limited thereto.

The fast beam scan control module 142 may determine the Candidate group Candidate _ Gm using the Cell search result Cell _ DR and the first reference value Ref _ 1. For example, the first reference value Ref _1 may be '20', and the fast beam scanning control module 142 compares the Cell search result Cell _ DR with the first reference value Ref _1 to determine a Candidate group Candidate _ Gm including transmission beam patterns having a correlation power equal to or greater than the first reference value Ref _1 as candidates. That is, the fast beam scan control module 142 may determine, as candidates, a Candidate group Candidate _ Gm including the second pattern TX _ BP _ a2 of the first Cell a, the first pattern TX _ BP _ B1 and the third pattern TX _ BP _ B3 of the second Cell B.

The method of determining the Candidate group Candidate _ Gm described in fig. 4B is merely an example embodiment, and example embodiments are not limited thereto. For example, the Candidate set Candidate _ Gm may be determined using various methods and various criteria using the relative power measured from the signal measurement circuit 132.

Fig. 5A and 5B are views for explaining operation S140 in fig. 3 in detail according to an example embodiment, and fig. 5C is a flowchart for explaining an example embodiment of operation S142 in fig. 5A.

Referring to fig. 5A, the terminal 100 may select an nth candidate from among candidates in the candidate set for determining whether to perform PBCH decoding after operation S130 (fig. 3) in operation S141. The terminal 100 may randomly select candidates from the candidate set or select candidates in descending order of the correlation power measured in the candidate set. Referring to fig. 4B, the terminal 100 may randomly select candidates from the Candidate group Candidate _ Gm or may select candidates in the order of the first transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B1 of the second Cell B, the third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3 of the second Cell B, and the second transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ a2 of the first Cell a in the descending order of the measured correlation power.

In operation S142, the signal measurement circuit 132 of the terminal 100 may measure the strength of the reference signal received through the nth candidate. For example, the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB1 received from the second Cell B through a transmission beam having the first transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B1 of the second Cell B, which first transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B1 is the nth candidate. In an example embodiment, the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB1 by at least one strength measurement method. For example, the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB1 may be any one of a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), a carrier to interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal to interference ratio (SIR), and a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) value. The signal measurement circuit 132 may provide the measurement Result M _ Result to the fast beam scanning control module 142 of the terminal 100.

In operation S143, the fast beam scan control module 142 may determine whether to perform PBCH decoding by using the measurement value and the second reference value. For example, the fast beam sweep control module 142 may compare the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB1 received from the second Cell B with the second reference value Ref _2 to determine whether to decode the PBCH received through the transmission beam having the first transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B1.

In operation S144, the fast beam sweep control module 142 may determine not to perform PBCH decoding when the measurement value is less than the second reference value (no in operation S143), and may determine whether the nth candidate is the last candidate in the candidate group. In operation S145, when the nth candidate is not the last candidate (no in operation S144), the terminal 100 may count up the value of n and perform operation S141 again. Otherwise, when the nth candidate is the last candidate (yes in operation S144), the terminal 100 may perform operation S170 (fig. 3). For example, the terminal 100 may perform operation S141, operation S141 being to select the third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3 of the second Cell B as a next candidate.

The signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB3 received from the second Cell B through a transmission beam having a third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3, which is the next nth candidate. In operation S151, the fast beam sweep control module 142 may determine to perform PBCH decoding when the measurement value is equal to or greater than the second reference value (yes in operation S143), and may perform PBCH decoding by using the nth candidate. For example, the fast beam sweep control module 142 may determine that the PBCH received from the second Cell B is decoded by the transmission beam having the third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3 because the strength of the reference signal Ref _ SB3 received from the second Cell B is greater than the second reference value Ref _ 2. The fast beam scan control module 142 may provide the decoding determination result D _ R to the decoder 144 of the terminal 100.

In operation S152, the decoder 144 may perform PBCH decoding based on the decoding determination result D _ R, and may determine whether PBCH decoding is successful. When PBCH decoding fails (no in operation S152), operation S144 may be performed. Otherwise, when PBCH decoding is successful (yes in operation S152), operation S160 (fig. 3) may be performed. The system information of PBCH may include criteria for PBCH decoding success and failure, and PBCH decoding failure may mean: the nth candidate and the current receive beam pattern are determined to be unsuitable for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair.

Fig. 5A and 5B refer to example embodiments in which the terminal 100 randomly or sequentially selects candidates in a candidate set one by one to determine whether to perform PBCH decoding and performs PBCH decoding according to the result.

Further referring to fig. 5C, in operation S142_1, which may be performed after operation S141 in fig. 5A, the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength according to a plurality of strength measurement methods of the reference signal received through the nth candidate. In an example embodiment, the signal measurement circuit 132 may measure strengths corresponding to the RSSI, CINR, SIR, and RSRP values with respect to the reference signal received through the nth candidate. In operation S142_2, the signal measurement circuit 132 may generate a measurement value corresponding to the reference signal received through the nth candidate using the measured strength. For example, the signal measurement circuit 132 may generate the measurement values by placing different or equal weights on the average of the measured intensities or the measured intensities, respectively. Thereafter, operation S143 of fig. 5A may be performed.

Fig. 6A and 6B are views for explaining operation S140 in fig. 3 in detail, according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 6A and 6B, the signal measurement circuit 132 of the terminal 100 may measure the strength of the reference signal received through each candidate of the candidate group, respectively, after operation S130 (fig. 3) in operation S141'. With further reference to fig. 4B, signal measurement circuit 132 may measure the strength of reference signals Ref _ SA2, Ref _ SB1, and Ref _ SB3 received through candidates TX _ BP _ a2, TX _ BP _ B1, and TX _ BP _ B3, respectively, of Candidate set Candidate _ Gm. The signal measurement circuit 132 may provide the measurement Result M _ Result to the fast beam scanning control module 142 of the terminal 100.

In operation S142', the fast beam sweep control module 142 may compare the measurement value with the second reference value to select the sub-candidate group. For example, the fast beam sweep control module 142 compares the measurement M _ Result with the second reference value Ref _2, and may select the Sub-Candidate set Sub-Candidate _ Gm by finding Sub-candidates corresponding to measurements greater than the second reference value Ref _ 2. For example, as shown in fig. 6B, the fast beam scanning control module 142 may select the second transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ a2 of the first Cell a and the third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3 of the second Cell B corresponding to the measurement value of the second reference value Ref _2 of '120' being greater to be included in the sub-candidate group Gm. The fast beam scanning control module 142 may provide the selection result S _ R of the Sub-Candidate group Sub-Candidate _ Gm to the decoder 144 of the terminal 100.

In operation S151', the decoder 144 may perform PBCH decoding by using the nth sub-candidate in the sub-candidate group. That is, the decoder 144 may decode the PBCH received through the nth sub-candidate. In an example embodiment, the decoder 144 may randomly select sub-candidates in the sub-candidate group or select the sub-candidates in descending order of the strength of the measurement reference signal. For example, the decoder 144 may randomly select Sub-candidates in the Sub-Candidate group Sub-Candidate _ Gm, or may select the Sub-candidates in the order of the second transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ a2 of the first Cell a and the third transmission beam pattern TX _ BP _ B3 of the second Cell B (i.e., in the descending order of the strength of the measurement reference signal).

In operation S152', the decoder 144 may determine whether PBCH decoding is successful. In operation S143 ', the decoder 144 may determine whether the sub-candidate of operation S143 ' is the last sub-candidate in the sub-candidate group when PBCH decoding fails (no in operation S152 '). When the sub-candidate of operation S143 ' is not the last sub-candidate (no in operation S143 '), the decoder 144 may perform operation S151 ' after counting up the value of n, and when the sub-candidate of operation S143 ' is the last sub-candidate (yes in operation S143 '), the decoder 144 may perform operation S170. Otherwise, when the decoding is successful (yes in operation S152'), operation S160 (fig. 3) may be performed.

Fig. 6A and 6B relate to the following example embodiments: the terminal 100 selects a sub-candidate group from the candidate group, measures the strength of a reference signal corresponding to the sub-candidate group each time, finds sub-candidates equal to or greater than a specific reference value, and performs PBCH decoding.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating operation S160 in fig. 3 in detail, according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 7, the terminal 100 may determine a transmission and reception beam pattern pair based on the result of PBCH decoding and attempt a camp-on operation for a corresponding cell using the transmission and reception beam pattern pair in operation S161 after operation S152 (fig. 5A) or operation S152' (fig. 6A).

In operation S162, the terminal 100 may determine whether the camp-on operation is successful. When the camp-on operation fails (no in the terminal operation S162), the terminal 100 may perform operation S144 (fig. 5A) or operation S143' (fig. 6A), and when the camp-on operation succeeds (yes in the operation S162), the terminal 100 may terminate the operation for finding the pair of transmission and reception beam patterns. Hereinafter, an example embodiment for minimizing a camping failure of the terminal 100 in an operation of the terminal 100 for finding a pair of transmission and reception beam patterns according to the example embodiment will be described.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of a fast beam sweep control module 200 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 8, the fast beam scanning control module 200 may include: the fast beam scanning operation complements the module 210 for minimizing a camping failure of the terminal 100. The fast beam operation supplement module 210 may include a PBCH decoding control module 212, a reference adjustment module 214, and a receive beam auto-tracking operation control module 216.

PBCH decoding control module 212 may measure a change in a wireless communication environment between a first point in time for determining whether to decode the PBCH of terminal 100 and a second point in time for performing PBCH decoding, and may stop PBCH decoding based on the change in the wireless communication environment. That is, even if PBCH decoding succeeds when the change in the wireless communication environment between the first and second time points is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the PBCH decoding control module 212 may stop PBCH decoding in advance to minimize unnecessary operations because the terminal 100 may fail in camping due to a change in the wireless communication environment thereafter. The operation of the PBCH decoding control module 212 will be described with reference to fig. 9.

The reference adjustment module 214 may adjust at least one of a reference value used in cell search and a reference value used in determining whether to perform PBCH decoding, so that the terminal 100 may succeed in a camp-on operation. The reference adjustment module 214 may determine a preemption failure behavior of the terminal 100 and adjust at least one reference value based on the behavior. For example, the behavior of the terminal 100 may be identified by the terminal based on a previous preemption failure. The operation of the reference adjusting module 214 will be described in detail with reference to fig. 10.

According to an example embodiment, when the reception beam automatic tracking operation control module 216 successfully camps on the corresponding cell after determining the transmission and reception beam patterns of the terminal 100, the reception beam automatic tracking operation control module 216 may control the reception beam automatic tracking operation to find a transmission and reception beam pattern capable of providing better reception quality than the current transmission and reception beam pattern. In an exemplary embodiment, the receive beam auto-tracking operation conforms to the standard of definition 5G (or New Radio (NR)) in the third generation partnership project (3GPP), and a detailed description thereof will not be given herein. The operation of the reception beam automatic tracking operation control module 216 will be described in detail with reference to fig. 11.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of the operation of PBCH decoding control module 212 in fig. 8 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 8 and 9, when PBCH decoding is performed using the nth candidate after operation S143 (fig. 5A) in operation S151_1, the PBCH decoding control module 212 may re-measure the strength of the reference signal received through the nth candidate. In operation S151_2, the PBCH decoding control module 212 may measure a change between the measurement value and the re-measurement value in operation S142 (map SA). In operation S151_3, the PBCH decoding control module 212 may determine whether the change is equal to or greater than a threshold value. In operation S151_5, when the change is equal to or greater than the threshold (yes in S151_ 3), the PBCH decoding control module 212 may stop PBCH decoding currently in progress, and may perform operation S144 (fig. 5A). In addition, the PBCH decoding control module 212 may control the baseband processor to perform the remaining PBCH decoding when the variation is less than the threshold (no in operation S151_ 3). Thereafter, operation S152 (fig. 5A) may be performed.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of the operation of the reference adjustment module 214 in fig. 8 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 8 and 10, the reference adjustment module 214 may count the number of times of camping failures of the terminal 100 among operations for determining the pair of transmission and reception beam patterns of the terminal 100 in operation S200. In operation S151_3, the reference adjustment module 214 may determine whether the preemption failure number is equal to or greater than a threshold number. When the number of preemption failures is equal to or greater than the threshold number (yes in operation S210), the reference adjustment module 214 may adjust at least one of: a reference value used in cell search, and a reference value used in determining whether to perform PBCH decoding. For example, when the number of camping failures is equal to or greater than the threshold number, the reference adjustment module 214 may increase at least one reference value so that the terminal 100 may improve the determination of the transmit and receive beam pattern pairs.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of the operation of the receive beam auto-tracking operation control module 216 in fig. 8 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 8 and 11, in operation S170, the receive beam automatic tracking operation control module 216 may perform a receive beam automatic tracking operation immediately within a specific time after operation S160 (fig. 3).

Fig. 12 is a block diagram of an electronic device 1000 for determining transmit and receive beam pattern pairs, according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 12, the electronic device 1000 may include a memory 1010, a processor unit 1020, an input/output controller 1040, a display unit 1050 (e.g., a display interface or display device), an input device 1060, and a communication processor 1090. Here, a plurality of memories 1010 may be included. The components are as follows.

The memory 1010 may include: a program storage unit 1011 for storing a program for controlling the operation of the electronic apparatus; and a data storage unit 1012 for storing data generated during program execution. The data storage unit 1012 may store: application 1013, and fast beam scan 1014. The program storage unit 1011 may include an application program 1013 and a fast beam scanning program 1014. Here, the program included in the program storage unit 1011 is a set of instructions, which can be expressed as an instruction set.

Application 1013 includes applications that are running on an electronic device. That is, application programs 1013 may include instructions for applications driven by processor 1022. According to an example embodiment, the fast beam scanning program 1014 may control the operation of determining transmit and receive beam pattern pairs. That is, the electronic device 1000 may perform a beam scanning operation in units of one reception beam pattern by the fast beam scanning program 1014.

The peripheral interface 1023 may control the connection of the processor 1022 and memory interface 1021 to input/output peripherals of the base station. Processor 1022 controls the base station to provide the corresponding service using at least one software program. The processor 1022 may execute at least one program stored in the memory 1010 to provide a service corresponding to the program.

Input/output controller 1040 may provide an interface between input/output devices (e.g., display unit 1050 and input device 1060) and a peripheral interface 1023. The display unit 1050 displays status information, input characters, moving pictures, still pictures, and the like. For example, the display unit 1050 may display application information driven by the processor 1022.

The input device 1060 may provide input data, generated through selection of electronic devices, to the processor unit 1020 through the input/output controller 1040. The input device 1060 may include a keyboard including at least one hardware button and a touch panel for sensing touch information. For example, the input device 1060 may provide touch information (e.g., touches, touch movements, and touch releases sensed by the touch panel) to the processor 1022 through the input/output controller 1040.

Electronic device 1000 may include a communication processor 1090 that performs communication functions for voice and data communications, and fast beam scanning program 1014 may control communication processor 1090 to select a receive beam pattern and produce a receive beam having the selected receive beam pattern.

Referring to fig. 13, according to an example embodiment, a home widget 2100, a home appliance 2120, an entertainment device 2140, and an Access Point (AP)2200 may perform a transmission/reception beam pattern determination operation. In some example embodiments, the home gadget 2100, the home appliance 2120, the entertainment device 2140, and the AP 2200 may implement or be part of an internet of things (IoT) network system. It should be understood that the communication devices shown in fig. 13 are merely examples and may include other communication devices not shown in fig. 13.

Example embodiments have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the detailed description. Although specific terms are used to explain the example embodiments, the specific terms are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of operating a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

selecting a first pattern as a pattern of receive beams;

searching for a plurality of cells in the wireless communication system using the receive beams of the first pattern;

determining, based on the searching, a first candidate group including at least one candidate for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having the first pattern of receive beams from the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells, wherein each of the at least one candidate corresponds to a transmit beam pattern of the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells;

determining whether to decode a physical broadcast channel, PBCH, received from a first candidate in the first candidate set;

decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and

selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for the transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beam from the first candidate set based on the decoding.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the plurality of cells further comprises:

measuring correlation power between synchronization signals received through transmission beam patterns of the plurality of cells and sequences respectively corresponding to the synchronization signals.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the first candidate set further comprises:

identifying a transmission beam pattern corresponding to each correlation power equal to or greater than the first reference value as the at least one candidate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining whether to decode the PBCH further comprises:

selecting a candidate from the first candidate set according to the magnitude of the correlated power; and

determining whether to decode a PBCH received through the candidate by using the candidate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to decode the PBCH further comprises:

selecting the first candidate from the first candidate group;

generating a first measurement value corresponding to a strength of a first reference signal received through the first candidate; and

determining whether to decode a first PBCH received through the first candidate using the first measurement value and a second reference value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the first measurement further comprises:

measuring the intensity of the first reference signal based on a plurality of intensity measurement methods; and

the intensities are combined to produce a first measurement corresponding to the first candidate.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether to decode the first PBCH comprises: determining to decode the first PBCH based on the first measurement value being equal to or greater than the second reference value.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether to decode the first PBCH by using the first measurement value and the second reference value comprises: determining not to decode the first PBCH based on the first measurement value being less than the second reference value, an

Wherein determining whether to decode PBCH received from the first candidate group further comprises:

selecting a second candidate from the first candidate set;

generating a second measurement value corresponding to a strength of a second reference signal received through the second candidate; and

determining whether to decode a second PBCH received through the second candidate using the second measurement value and the second reference value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to decode a PBCH received from the first candidate group further comprises:

generating measurement values corresponding to the strengths of reference signals received through a plurality of first candidates in the first candidate set;

comparing the measured value to a second reference value;

identifying a set of sub-candidates from the first set of candidates, the set of sub-candidates comprising sub-candidates having corresponding measures exceeding the second reference value; and

determining whether to decode the PBCH using the sub-candidate group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether to decode the PBCH using the sub-candidate set further comprises:

selecting a sub-candidate from the set of sub-candidates according to the size of the measurement; and

using the sub-candidates to determine whether to decode a PBCH received through the candidate.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on a failure to decode the PBCH:

selecting a second pattern as the pattern of the receive beam;

re-searching the plurality of cells in the wireless communication system using the receive beam of the second pattern;

determining a second candidate group including at least one second candidate for a pair of transmit and receive beam patterns having a second pattern of the receive beams from among the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells based on the re-search;

re-determining whether to decode a PBCH received from a second candidate in the second candidate set;

decoding the PBCH based on the re-determining; and

selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for the transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a second pattern of the receive beams from the second candidate set based on the decoding.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to decode the PBCH comprises: measuring a change between a measurement value generated by measuring a strength of the reference signal received through the first candidate and a re-measurement value generated by re-measuring a strength of the reference signal received through the candidate while decoding the PBCH; and

wherein the method of operating the terminal further comprises: determining whether to stop decoding PBCH received through the candidate based on the change.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method of operating the terminal further comprises: performing a camp-on operation for a cell corresponding to one of the transmit beam patterns.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

counting the number of preemption failures;

determining whether the number of preemption failures is equal to or greater than a threshold number; and

based on whether the number of preemption failures is equal to or greater than the threshold number, adjusting at least one of: a first reference value used in searching for the plurality of cells and a second reference value used in determining whether to decode the PBCH.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: performing a receive beam auto-tracking operation after the camping operation is completed.

16. A terminal configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising:

a plurality of antennas; and

a baseband processor configured to:

controlling the plurality of antennas such that a reception beam of the terminal has a pattern;

controlling a beam scanning operation using the receive beam having the pattern;

searching for a plurality of cells in the wireless communication system using the pattern of the reception beam as a first pattern of a first beam scanning operation;

determining a first candidate group including at least one candidate from among the transmission beam patterns of the plurality of cells based on a result of the search, the at least one candidate being capable of selecting a transmission and reception beam pattern pair for the first pattern having the reception beam;

decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and

selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams from the first candidate set.

17. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: based on a failure to select one of the transmission beam patterns based on the first beam scanning operation, controlling the plurality of antennas so that a reception beam of the terminal has a second pattern, and performing a second beam scanning operation by using the reception beam of the second pattern.

18. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the terminal further comprises: a signal measurement circuit configured to measure correlation power between synchronization signals received through transmission beam patterns of the plurality of cells and sequences respectively corresponding to the synchronization signals, an

Wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: identifying a transmission beam pattern corresponding to each of the correlation powers equal to or greater than a first reference value as the at least one candidate.

19. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: selecting a candidate from the first candidate set and using a measured strength corresponding to the strength of a reference signal received through the candidate and a second reference value to determine whether to decode a PBCH received through the candidate, an

Wherein, the terminal further includes: a signal measurement circuit configured to measure a strength of the reference signal.

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: determining to decode a PBCH received through the candidate based on the measured strength of the reference signal being equal to or greater than the second reference value, and determining whether to stop decoding the PBCH based on a change between a re-measured strength of the reference signal and the measured strength of the reference signal when decoding the PBCH, and

wherein the signal measurement circuit is further configured to re-measure the strength of the reference signal when decoding the PBCH.

21. The terminal of claim 20, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: based on the change being equal to or greater than a threshold, ceasing to decode PBCH received through the candidates, continuing the first beam scanning operation by selecting another candidate from the first candidate group, controlling the plurality of antennas such that a reception beam of the terminal has a second pattern, and performing a second beam scanning operation by using the reception beam having the second pattern.

22. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: terminating the first beam scanning operation and determining a first pattern of the receive beam and a first candidate of the transmit and receive beam pattern pair based on a successful decoding of the PBCH received through a first candidate selected in the first candidate set.

23. The terminal of claim 22, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to: performing a camp-on operation based on the transmit and receive beam pattern pairs.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor in a terminal that determines transmit and receive beam pattern pairs, cause the terminal to:

selecting a first pattern as a pattern of receive beams;

searching for a plurality of cells using the receive beams of the first pattern;

determining a first candidate set from the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells, the first candidate set comprising candidates for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams;

determining whether to decode a physical broadcast channel, PBCH, received from a first candidate of the first candidate set;

decoding the PBCH based on the determination; and

based on the decoding, selecting one of the transmit beam patterns for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having a first pattern of the receive beams.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a processor in the terminal and based on the first candidate set not including any first candidate set or based on the decoding PBCH failing at PBCH decoding, cause the terminal to:

selecting a second pattern as the pattern of the receive beam;

re-searching the plurality of cells by using the second pattern as the pattern of the reception beam;

determining a second candidate set from the transmit beam patterns of the plurality of cells, the second candidate set comprising a second candidate for a transmit and receive beam pattern pair having the second pattern as the pattern of the receive beam;

re-determining whether to decode a PBCH received from a second candidate of the second candidate set;

decoding a PBCH received from the second candidate based on whether it is determined to decode the PBCH; and

selecting a second pattern for the transmit and receive beam pattern pairs based on the decoding.